The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water

The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water presents an overview of global trends in water law and policy and assesses current global water governance. It provides an historic understanding of how and why after 5,000 years of water governance, that governance still has not reached stability. It identifies the key research questions for water law and policy while providing an overview of the current global water governance regime, its evolving characteristics, and the legal theories involved in these changes. It focuses on water law and discusses the characteristics of national, supranational, and international water law through a combination of case studies and thematic chapters. The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water is the first volume to take a global perspective on the evolution of water law and policy. It describes global patterns and sets forth the particulars of eight national legal systems drawn from every continent and five regional or supranational systems, as well as the body of customary international law as a whole. In particular, it is the first book to explore the interrelation between culture, religion, government and law in water governance and management. The volume is, therefore, a must-read for anyone interested in how water governance has changed through time and in different places as well as anyone interested in how water law has sought to channel water governance through time and in different places and what variables account for the relative success (or lack of success) of water law in performing this channelling function. It is suggestive of possible lines of water law reform and whether a particular reform is likely to be successful.

Sobre o autor (2010)

Joyeeta Gupta is Professor of Climate Change Law and Policy at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and of Water Law and Policy at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft. She is editor-in-chief of International Environmental Agreements: Politics, Law and Economics and is on the editorial board of the journals Carbon and Law Review, International Journal on Sustainable Development, Environmental Science and Policy, and International Community Law Review. She was a lead author of the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. She is on the scientific steering committees of many different international programmes including the Global Water Systems Project and the Earth System Governance Project. She has published several books on climate change, including The Climate Change Convention and Developing Countries: From Conflict to Consensus? (1997, Kluwer Academic Publishers), and Our Simmering Planet: What to do About Global Warming (2001, Zed Publishers). Her edited books include The Evolution of the Law and Politics of Water (2009, Springer Verlag, with J. Dellapenna), Climate Change and the Kyoto Protocol: The Role of Institutions and Instruments to Control Global Change (2003, Edward Elgar Publishers, with M. Faure and A. Nentjes), Issues in International Climate Policy: Theory and Policy (2003, Edward Elgar Publishers, with E. Van Ierland and M. Kok), and Climate Change and European Leadership: A Sustainable Role for Europe (2000, Kluwer Academic Publishers, with M. Grubb).